The clinical link between depression and obesity: Role of Ca2+/cAMP signalling.

A link between depression and obesity has been established by several reports. Consistent data support a bidirectional link between depression and obesity, e.g. obese people have demonstrated an increased risk of developing depression in their lifetime, whereas depressed people have shown an increased risk of becoming obese. An intensive debate in the field is that a Ca2+ signalling dysregulation may be an upstream issue which could link obesity and depression. In fact, Ca2+ and cAMP signalling pathways (Ca2+/cAMP signalling) control the release of both neurotransmitters and hormones, in addition to neuronal death and lipogenesis. Then, I herein discussed the putative contribution of Ca2+/cAMP signalling in this link between depression and obesity.